Brick-press charger



(No Model.)

. D. W. CUMMINS.

BRICK PRESS CHARGER.

N0. 548,522. Rented Oct. 22, 1895.

meggeg I V I L V I [gv eaioz z/mz wauq ANDREW 1511mm.nmu-u'mownsmummuc UNITED STATES PATENT Enron,

DAVID W. CUMMINS, OFCI-IICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BRICK-PRESS CHARGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 548,522, dated October 22, 1895.

Application filed March 18, 1895.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID W. CUMMINS, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brick-Press Chargers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the reciprocating feed boxes or chargers used in brick-presses for delivering to the molds material received from the feed-hopper of the press.

The object of the invention is to provide, in connection with such feed-box, means for removing from the side walls of the feed-box any material which may be adherent thereto at the time the feed-box is brought into position over the mold for the discharge of the contents of the feed-box into the mold.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in vertical section of a mold-table, clayhopper, and feed-box, the feed-box being provided with a cleaning device embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the feedbox. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the same, taken on lines 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on lines at 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a side view of the stop-plate shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, A indicates a horizontally-arranged casting which forms the mold-table of a brick-press and which contains a series of molds, of which one is seen at B, said molds being open at their upper and lower ends and adapted for the insertion therein of upper and lower plungers, between which the clay to form the brick is compressed within the mold. The lower plunger referred to is seen at C, Fig. 1.

Above the mold-table, at the rear of the molds, is locateda clay-hopper D, which receives a supply of clay from a feed-spout D, passing through the top or oove'r d of the hopper. The bottom edge of the hopper is located above the top surface of thelmold-table,

Serial No. 542,157 (No model.)

and between said hopper and the mold-table is located a horizontal sliding charger or feedbox IE, having at its forward part a series of compartments E, corresponding in distance apart with the molds B, said feed-box being provided at the rear of said compartments with a horizontal top surface e, adapted to close the bottom opening of the hopper when feed-box is given reciprocatory motion from one of the operative parts of the brick-press.

As far as above described the feedingmechanism is like that heretofore used in such presses and operates in the same manner, a part of the clay within the hopper falling into the compartments E, so as to fill the same, when the feed-box is drawn backwardly and clay suflicient to fill the molds being carried forward and deposited in the molds in the advance movement of the feed-box, by which the compartments are carried forward over the molds. It is, of course, understood that the feed-box advances at the time the upper plungers (not shown in the drawings) are lifted out of the molds and are so far above the same as to be out of the way. of the feedbox in its advance and when the lower plungers are at the bottom of the molds or in the position shown in Fig. 1.

To now refer to the parts more particularly constituting my invention, the same are made as follows:

G G indicate a series of knives, blades, or scrapers which are located adjacent to the side walls of the molds, and which are movable along the same, so as to scrape therefrom any clay which may adhere to the said side walls at the time of the discharge of the con: tents of the feed-box into the molds. Said knives or scrapers are attached to suitable devices by which they are moved or actuated so as to be drawn or moved along the side walls of the feed-box during the time the latter is over the molds. In the particular construction illustrated said knives or scrapers G are attached at their lower ends to bars II, which are arranged at the lower margins of the side walls of the feed-box, said bars acting as supports for the knives or scrapers and also as a means of giving movement to the knives or scrapers relatively to the feed-box. When the feed-box is provided with several compartments, as in the instance shown, these compartments are separated by partitions E and the bars H, which support the knives or scrapers adjacent to said partitions, are located beneath the lower edges of the partitions, so as to in effect form parts of the same,-

and each bar carries the knives or scrapers which act on the opposite sides of the partition beneath which it is placed. In the case of the outer walls of the feed-box, however, the bars II will be desirably located in rabbets at the lower edges of said walls, as clearly shown in the sectional view, Fig. 3.

The knives G will preferably be sharpened at both edges and rest flat against the side walls of the feed-box, so that they will scrape or clean the said surface of the side walls equally well in both theirbackward and for ward movement along saidwalls.

For the general purposes of my invention movement of the knives or scrapers G rela tively to the feed-box may be accomplished by any suitable actuating mechanism acting on the bars H; but I have herein shown as constituting part of my invention a device for this purpose constructed as follows: Said bars H are extended rearwardly past the rear end of the feed-box, and are there provided with two sets of stops or stop-pins h h. Across the rear end of the mold-table is located a stop-plate I, provided with notches 2', through which pass the rear ends of said bars H. The said stop-plate is shown as supported by brackets I, attached to the mold-table. The said plate I is located between the pins or stops it h on the bars I-I, so that said stops or pins will strike opposite sides of the stop-plate and the latter will thus limit the movement of the bars in either direction while permitting a certain extent of play therein. Said bars I-I being mounted on the feed-box and the knives or scrapers Gr having frictional engagements with the side walls of said feedbox, the bars will obviously tend to move with the feed-box in the reciprocatory motion of the latter. The stop-plate I and the stoppins on the bars are relatively so located, however, as to produce movement of the knives practically the full length of the feed-box in each stroke of the same.

When the feed-box is at the rearward limit of its movement, as shown in Fig. l, the knives will stand at the forward end of the same, and the stop-plate I will thus be in contact with the rear stop-pins h. In the advance of the feed-box the knives will advance with the same and will remain at the forward end of the latter until they reach a point over oropposite the molds, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, when the rear stoppins h it will strike the stop-plate and the knives will be held from further advance movement. The continued forward movement of the feed-box while the knives remain stationary will result in the sides of the feed-box being carried past the knives, so that the knives in effect move along the side walls of the feed-box from the front to the rear end of the same, it being obvious that the said knives by remaining in the position shown by dotted lines will, when the feed-box has reached the limit of the forward movement, stand near the rear end of the feed-box. By such movement of I the knives along the sides of the feed-box all adhering clay will be scraped from the latter and will fall into the molds, so as to insure the delivery of all the clay to the molds, notwithstanding it may tend, to a greater or less extent, to adhere to the said side walls or to remain in a solid mass within the charger instead of falling into the molds. In the subsequent rearward or backward movement of the feed-box the knives will start backwardly with the feed-box until they reach the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, when the contact of the stop-pins h with the stop-plate will arrest their further backward movement, and the rearward movement of the feed-box continuing the knives will finally rest at the forward end of the feed-box and in the position shown in the drawings and first-above described.

In order to insure the movement of the knives with the feed-box in the manner de scribed, it is obviously desirable that the bars H should have little or no frictional engagement with the mold-table or other stationary part of the machine, and I therefore so construct the parts that the bars H will be supported a short distance above and free from the surface of the mold-table. For this purpose I have preferably confined said bars in guide-apertures c at the lower part of the rear transverse wall E of the feed-box, said apertures being formed in the instance shown by notches in the lower edge of said partition, which notches are closed at their lower ends by a transverse bar 6 extending along, the bottom of the said partition E as clearly shown in Fig. 4:.

The compartments of the feed-box are herein shown as made wider at their lower than at their upper ends, so as to make their opposite walls outwardly and downwardly divergent. This construction is employed to facilitate the discharge of material from the feed-box, but is not essential, the action of the knives being practically the same, whether the sides of the feed-box be inclined or vertical.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a mold and reciprocating feed-box, of a cleaning knife or scraper, movable along a wall of said feed-box, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a mold and recip rocating feed-box, of a cleaning knife or scraper, movable along a wall of the feed-box, and a supporting bar for said knife or scraper movable longitudinally of the said wall, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a mold and recip rocating feed-box, of cleaning knives or scrapers, movable along the side Walls of the feedbox, longitudinally arranged bars to which said scrapers are attached, and stops on the frame and bars, by which the scrapers are held from movement with the feed-box in the reciprocatory motion of the latter, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a reciprocating 

